


You're Not Gonna Reach My Telephone

by perry_avenue



Series: The Sweet DREAMers 'Verse [5]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Klaine, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2016-05-20
Packaged: 2018-06-09 16:29:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6914680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perry_avenue/pseuds/perry_avenue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt hasn’t returned any of Blaine’s texts or voice mails for hours.  As the day wears on, Blaine just wants reassurance that his boyfriend is okay.  He IS okay, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're Not Gonna Reach My Telephone

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the song [ “Telephone,”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTGCsv6WaEY) written and performed by Lady Gaga and featuring Béyonce. 
> 
> This is slightly angsty, but with a happy ending. Barely a mention of immigration issues; just a single day in the life of the boys, that doesn’t go according to plan. 
> 
> As in the original [ _Sweet DREAMers,_](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3419171/chapters/7489244) Blaine Anderson is a business major at Baruch College of the City University of New York (CUNY). Blaine came to the United States from the Philippines on a tourist visa with his mom when he was three years old and since then, has lived in Woodside, Queens with his mom and cousin Marco. As a gay, undocumented student, he belongs to two marginalized populations. Blaine is in a relationship with Kurt Hummel, a U.S. citizen from Lima, Ohio, and a theatre major attending New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. 
> 
> This fic works fine as a stand-alone, although it adds to the enjoyment if you’re familiar with the plot, the characters, and their personalities from the original _Sweet DREAMers_.
> 
> My thanks to my fabulous beta and dear friend, [Flowerfan ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerfan/pseuds/flowerfan)
> 
> It takes place on one day in February 2016, four months after [_Sunday in the Park With Kurt (and Blaine)_](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5182112) and thirteen months after [_Validation._](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6039184/chapters/13847068)

Murphy’s Law: If something can go wrong, it will, and usually at the worst time. From [dictionary.com](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/murphy-s-law?s=t)  
*****

_Tuesday, February 23, 2016_

Kurt opened one eye and slowly raised his head from the pillow. The bedroom seemed a bit too bright for 7:00 am. He reached for his cell phone on the table next to him to check the time. The screen stayed blank.

_Shit! What’s with my phone? What time IS it?_

Kurt yanked the blanket and top sheet off of him and hurried into the living room, his phone still in his hand. The clock on the DVR read 8:02 am. “Shit!” he exclaimed, this time out loud. He had his Political Theatre class at 8:30 and there was no way he’d make it. His phone battery must have completely run down. He cursed again, plugged the phone into the charger and raced to the bathroom. It was a good thing Santana had stayed at Dani’s the night before, so nothing would interfere with his need to shower and dress as quickly as possible. Missing one class was bad enough. No way was he going to miss his next class, Major Playwrights, which was at 9:45 am.

Once Kurt showered, shaved and dressed for the day, he had just enough time to eat a decent breakfast and prepare lunch. He pulled on his jacket, wrapped Blaine’s plaid wool scarf around his neck, put his lunch in his messenger bag, toed into his shoes, and closed the apartment door behind him. After a short wait for the elevator, he reached the lobby, exited through the main door, crossed the street, ran down the stairs of the subway entrance to the downtown platform, slid his Metrocard into the slot on the turnstile, and quickened his pace when he heard the sound of a train entering the station. He boarded just before the train doors closed behind him.

Kurt breathed a sigh of relief and sank into an empty seat. His morning had gotten off to a rocky start, but Elliott was in his Political Theatre class, and he knew he could borrow his friend’s notes. Kurt reached into his pocket for his cell phone, but all he could feel were his ear buds. His heart sank as he realized it was still in the apartment, plugged into the charger.

Kurt banged his head in frustration against the back of the subway seat. _What the fuck is wrong with me today? There’s no way I can go back for it now._ He would have to survive without his phone. But what about Blaine? They usually exchanged texts several times a day. Well, at least he had his iPad with him. _Wait. Do I?_ He opened his messenger bag to double check, and let out a sigh of relief when he saw it. Okay then. He would send Blaine an email message from his iPad as soon as he reached NYU, explaining what had happened, and not to expect any texts or calls from him until tonight. 

*****  
Blaine hurried down the corridor to get to his second class, Federal Income Taxation. Even though it wasn’t required for his business major, he was taking it as an elective. He liked Professor Giannopoulos (or Professor G, as he preferred to be called), who managed to be engaging despite the dryness of the subject matter.

“Good morning, everyone! Today we’re going to discuss how non-U.S. citizens who live in the United States are taxed.” There were a few scattered groans around the room, but Blaine perked right up.

“Don’t bail on me so quickly,” Professor G admonished, although he was smiling. “I think many of you will find this topic very relevant.” He pressed a key on the podium’s control panel to bring up the first slide. Blaine watched while several phrases moved into view on the screen.

**U.S Tax Guide for Aliens**

**Resident Alien vs. Non-Resident Alien for Tax Purposes**

**The Substantial Presence Test**

_Aliens?_ Blaine cringed. That word was fine for sci-fi films like _Star Wars,_ but he hated when it was used to describe immigrants. Hadn’t he read somewhere recently that the Library of Congress had stopped using the subject heading “illegal aliens?” Why couldn’t the Internal Revenue Service stop using it, too? He would have to text Kurt about it later.

“The terms ‘resident alien’ and ‘non-resident alien’ are embedded in the U.S. Tax Code, and mean non-citizen." Professor G looked around the room. “How many of you have a negative reaction to hearing the word ‘alien’ used in this context?” Nearly every hand went up.

Professor G went on to explain the definitions of residents and non-residents for tax purposes, and how those definitions were different in the context of U.S. immigration law. He put up a slide with a complicated formula for determining “substantial presence” under the tax code, and smiled. “Now you know why U.S. income tax law is colloquially referred to as the ‘full employment act for tax accountants.’” Everyone in the room laughed. The guy sitting next to Blaine muttered “I knew I should have majored in Accounting.” Blaine smirked. He could imagine himself doing lots of things, but being an accountant was not one of them. 

*****  
Kurt sighed with relief as he hurried into the building that housed the Tisch faculty offices, classrooms and studios. He had ten minutes until his Major Playwrights class. He entered the room, found a seat, took off his jacket and gloves, and pulled out his iPad. He had just enough time to send Blaine an email message.

Kurt opened the web browser, but couldn’t get it to connect to the internet. _What the hell?_ He never had this trouble before. He looked up, and saw his classmate Carmine, sitting in front of him with his iPad open. Kurt leaned forward and gently tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey, Carmine. Are you able to get an internet connection?”

Carmine shook his head. “Nope. Did you get the text they sent out on the emergency message system? I saw it on my phone about a half hour ago. Wi-Fi is down all over campus, and so is the internet. Some sort of system failure. They’re not sure how long it will take for it to come back up.”

“Oh god,” Kurt groaned in frustration. Nothing was going right, and in terms of his schedule, today was his busiest day. With classes and work, if the school’s Wi-Fi stayed down, he wouldn’t have any time to get to a neighborhood restaurant with free Wi-Fi to email Blaine until it was time to go home.

Carmine gave Kurt a sympathetic look and nodded. “I know, it’s a pain. But your phone should work fine on 4G.”

“My phone is back in my apartment,” Kurt said sadly. “Of all the days to forget it, right? My boyfriend is going to wonder why he hasn’t heard from me. I just hope he doesn’t worry.” 

“Well, here. Use my phone to call or text him.” Carmine started to reach for his jacket.

Kurt extended his arm to stop him. “No, no. Thanks. I appreciate it, but it won’t help. I don’t have his number memorized. I just speed dial it every time I need to reach him.“

“But you can use my phone to send him an email.”

Kurt shrugged, embarrassed. “I don’t know his email address either.”

Carmine’s eyebrow lifted impressively. “Seriously? Isn’t it just, like, his name at gmail dot com?”

Kurt shook his head. “That would be too easy. It’s an old AOL account and his address is partly numbers. But I’ve learned my lesson. When I get home later, I’m writing everything down on paper and putting it in my bag.”

“Well, hopefully they’ll get things fixed soon.“ Carmine stopped talking as the professor entered and walked to the front of the room.

*****  
As soon as Blaine’s class ended, he sent a quick text to Kurt before meeting Tina for lunch.

**11:45 am from Blaine: “Aliens” have invaded again. This time it’s the US Tax Code. Maybe something for your blog? More later. Love U xxoo**

When Blaine reached the food court, he saw Tina leaning against the wall by the entrance, watching for him. “I didn’t want to get in line until you got here,” she explained.

“Thanks for waiting,” Blaine replied. They were both in the habit of bringing lunch from home to save money, so they just purchased drinks before finding an empty table for two. 

“What’s up?” Tina asked. For the next few minutes, they talked about their weekends, having last seen each other on Friday. Tina had gone out on a second date with a guy who was in one of her classes.

“You let him take you out a second time, huh? So when are you going to introduce me?” Blaine teased. 

Tina shoved Blaine’s arm with her hand. “When did you become my father?! Anyway, Mike’s sweet and I think I like him.”

“Does that mean you’ll say yes if he asks you out for date number three?”

“He already has, and I did. So there,” Tina said with a smirk. She pulled out her phone from her jacket pocket. “Uh oh. My next class is in fifteen minutes. I’d better go. Sorry to have to run.”

“No worries. I should get going, too.” Blaine swiped the screen on his phone. No messages. That was weird. Kurt usually texted him during lunch. Blaine decided to take a chance and call Kurt, just to tease him, knowing he was between classes. He listened as the phone rang five times, and then went to voice mail. He waited for the beep and started speaking.

 **Hi babe. It’s me. Just wondering why I haven’t heard from you today. Love you. Text me, okay?**

Blaine shrugged inwardly and gathered up his things. Kurt was probably in the middle of something. He was sure he would hear from him soon.

*****  
Kurt finished his lunch quickly and headed to his next class, a two-hour acting workshop. He had yet to run into Elliott to ask him about borrowing his class notes, and he hadn’t seen Santana either. But he didn’t have time to look for them. As soon as the workshop ended, he had to get to the NYU Welcome Center where he worked part-time as a student ambassador, to give a campus tour. As he stood in the locker room adjacent to the studio and changed into the loose clothing he wore for his workshop, he noticed his classmate Jonah scrolling through his cell phone. 

“Jonah, has the campus Wi-Fi come back yet?”

Jonah looked up at Kurt, and shook his head. “Not yet. “

Kurt sighed and shut the locker.

*****  
Blaine headed to his last class of the day. He checked his phone as he took his seat. Still no word from Kurt. What was going on? This was crazy! He decided he had nothing to lose, so he sent Kurt a Facebook message, followed by a Tumblr message, and an email. An hour later, he checked his phone again as he exited the classroom. Nothing. Should he get in touch with Santana, or would that make him sound too needy? 

Blaine didn’t want Santana to think he couldn’t survive a morning and afternoon without hearing from Kurt, but the lack of contact _was_ strange, and he was starting to worry. He decided he was prepared to endure an infinite amount of Santana’s verbal abuse in exchange for the reassurance that Kurt was okay. He quickly composed a text, grateful that he and Santana had each other’s contact information. It had happened in the early days of dating Kurt, when Kurt had gotten blindsided by the news of his aunt’s death, and had shut himself off from his friends, including Blaine.

**1:45 pm from Blaine: Sorry to bother you. Trying to reach Kurt all day, but he’s not answering text or voice mail. Was he okay when you saw him this morning? Probably overreacting, but I usually hear from him by now. Thnx.**

Blaine put his phone away and got ready to head outdoors. He needed to get to Barnes & Noble for his afternoon shift. As he went down the stairs, he heard his phone buzz with an incoming text message. He immediately smiled, hoping it was from Kurt, but it was from Santana. 

**1:49 pm from Santana: You two are nauseating. I was at Dani’s overnight so I haven’t seen your boy since yesterday. But I’ll text Elliott, just so I don’t get 50 more texts from you. They both have the same first class on Tuesdays.**

Blaine sighed with relief, choosing to ignore Santana’s snark. Five minutes later, when he was outside, walking briskly towards Union Square, his phone buzzed again. 

**1:54 pm from Santana: Per Elliott, Kurt was not in class this morning. That’s the only time their paths cross on Tuesdays. Kurt hasn’t answered my text either. All Wi-Fi and internet is down at NYU since this morning, so no email service. But his phone should work. I’m sure there’s a good explanation why he’s gone AWOL. I’ll keep checking. STAY CALM.**

As soon as Blaine read the words “STAY CALM,” his heart jumped in his chest. He swallowed hard. _He’s fine! He’s fine!_ he repeated to himself. _But what if something happened? Had Kurt hurt himself in his apartment? On his way to NYU?_

Blaine shook his head, trying to push the scary thoughts away. Worrying would accomplish nothing. He had a four hour shift at work coming up. Should he call in sick and just go straight to Kurt’s apartment? No, that didn’t make sense. He needed Kurt or Santana to sign him in, otherwise, he wouldn’t get past the lobby. It sounded like Santana was still at NYU. He decided to call her instead of texting back. She picked up on the first ring.

“What?” Santana asked in a tone that brooked no challenge.

“Uh, hi Santana,” Blaine replied carefully. “Thanks for checking on Kurt. I’m not gonna lie, I’m really worried about him.” He could hear Santana sigh. “I have to go to work. I’ll be done by 6:30. This is the night I sleep over, so I’ll be coming to the apartment right after. Will you be there?"

“Yeah. I’ll definitely be back by then.” Santana paused. “Oh, don’t be surprised if you hear from Elliott. But Blaine, maybe we all need to take a step back and breathe? Just because Kurt’s not texting you…”

Blaine bristled. “And he didn’t show up for his first class AND he hasn’t attempted to contact any of us AND he isn’t responding to calls or texts from any of us…”

“Okay, okay! I get it! This must be my punishment for spending last night at Dani’s. _Ay dios mio!_ I used to think you were the calm one and Hummel had all the crazy. I guess I need to rethink that. I have two more classes, but I should be back in the apartment no later than 5:30. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”

Blaine knew that in her own way, Santana was just as concerned as he was. “Thanks! I promise to do the same. Talk to you later.” He picked up his pace to try to get rid of the nervous energy snapping through his body. He was less than ten minutes from Barnes & Noble. 

*****  
Santana walked to her next class, lost in thought. She frowned, and tapped her phone against her lips several times. Then she made a call.

“Carlyle Court Apartments. This is Ruby. How may I help you?”

Santana smiled with relief. Ruby was in her “Women in Politics” course. “Hey, Ruby. It’s Santana. I need your help.”

“What’s up, girl?”

“It’s about my roommate, Kurt Hummel. He’s gone off the grid, and I just want someone to check our apartment and see if he’s okay. He may not even be there, but he’s not answering his phone, he wasn’t in class this morning, and I haven’t seen him since yesterday. Not that I think anything bad has happened, but just to be sure.”

There was a pause before Ruby replied. “I can’t leave the desk right now, but can you wait for just an hour or two until my shift ends? The staff lets the Resident Assistants use our master key to enter apartments if it’s requested. I just want to be sure that’s what you want. If he’s home, I’ll have to tell him you gave me permission to come in. Some students get mad. They think it’s an invasion of privacy.”

“If he’s home, then I can get his best friend and his boyfriend off my back. They haven’t heard from him, either. Believe me, it’s worth it. What do you need from me?”

Ruby took some information from Santana over the phone, and told her she would get a call once the check had been made. “Oh, there’s a form you’ll need to sign once you’re back. If I’ve left for the day, just ask whoever’s here for it. “

Santana sighed. “I keep thinking I should just get on the subway and do this myself. But I have two more classes, and I’m supposed to give a presentation in one of them. I really do hope he’s okay. That way, I can kill him later for worrying us.”

“No threats, honey,” said Ruby, laughing. “You don’t want me writing you up! Hopefully, your roomie’s fine.”

“Okay. I’ll look forward to a call.”

“Talk later,” Ruby replied.

*****  
Kurt and his fellow students were taking their usual five minute break halfway through the two hour acting workshop. He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, drinking from his water bottle. He sighed inwardly, hoping Blaine wasn’t too worried that he hadn’t been in touch all day. Who was he kidding? If the roles were reversed, he would be close to frantic by now. 

*****  
Blaine was a block away from Barnes & Noble when his phone buzzed. It was Elliott.

“Hey, Elliott.”

“Hey, Blaine.”

“Santana told me you might call. Have you heard from Kurt?”

“No. Sorry.”

Blaine cursed under his breath. They should be doing more to find Kurt, and he was getting more worried by the minute. “Look, I’ve been thinking…do you know what other classes Kurt had today? Is there any way to find out if he showed up for them?” Blaine knew his voice was trembling but he couldn’t help it. “I’m just getting concerned there won’t be anyone around to ask after offices close at 5 o’clock, and god, I don’t want to still be dealing with this tonight and not know if he’s okay.”

“Sure. I have a class starting in five minutes, but as soon as it’s over, I’ll find Kurt’s acting workshop instructor and see if he was there this afternoon. But Blaine, try to take it easy. I know Kurt’s stepped out of his normal pattern with you. I totally understand why you’re worried. I know it’s not like him to miss a class. But there’s got to be a good explanation. I’ll bet by tonight, we’re all going to be sitting somewhere and laugh about this, or at least feel really embarrassed.”

Blaine sighed. “I hope you’re right. I have to go to work now, and I can’t have my phone on. But, if you have ANY news, call or text me. I can check for messages during my break if not before. I work until 6:30. I stay with Kurt on Tuesdays, so I told Santana I’d be coming over to the apartment straight from work.”

Blaine entered Barnes & Noble and went up to the third floor. He checked his phone one more time in the employee’s lounge before heading out on the floor to start his shift. Nothing. Normally, he did not have his phone on him while working. But today, he planned to ask Angela, his supervisor, to make an exception. She was behind the information desk, looking something up on her computer.

“Hi, Angela, I need a favor.”

Angela looked up from what she was doing, and smiled at Blaine. But when she saw the worried expression on his face, her smile quickly faded.

“Blaine, are you okay?”

“Actually, I’ve been better. It’s Kurt. He hasn’t answered texts or voice mail all day, and he wasn’t in class this morning. His roommate hasn’t seen him today, and neither has his best friend. So, I’m concerned.”

“Do you need to leave?”

Blaine shook his head. “No, I think I’d rather work. I’m just a half block from his apartment, he lives in NYU housing, but I can’t get in until his roommate returns, and that‘s at 5:30. Would it be okay to have my cell phone with me, in case someone tries to call or text? I’ll keep it on vibrate.” 

“Of course. I’m glad you told me. I hope everything turns out fine. But If you have to leave, just find me.” Angela paused for a moment, and then her face brightened. “We received a large delivery of magazines this morning. It’s been pretty quiet this afternoon. How about you stock the display shelves?”

Blaine suppressed a small shiver, because that hit a bit too close to home. Stocking the display shelves was how he and Kurt first met. If that was meant to be an omen, he fervently hoped it was a good one. Anyway, at least it would keep him distracted, and give him a physical outlet for his pent up energy. “That’s perfect. Thank you. I’ll get right on it.”

*****  
Kurt entered the lobby of NYU’s Welcome Center and walked around the reception desk. “Well, hi there,” said Kim, who supervised the student ambassadors. “All set for the tour this afternoon? There’s four of you working today.”

“Hi, Kim,” Kurt replied, as he signed in for work. He put one of the purple NYU Student Ambassador vests over his wool jacket, retrieved his name badge and lanyard from the bunch that were hanging from a hook, and put it around his neck. “Sounds like a big group.”

Kim nodded. “Bigger than usual for a Tuesday in late February. Especially since we had such a large crowd here last week for the Presidents Day holiday.”

“Speaking of which, how’s your day been so far?”

Kim frowned and sighed. “It’s been awful without access to our web-based systems and shared files. Everything’s been down for over six hours now, and there’s no email either. They tell us it should be back up before the end of the day, but I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Kurt nodded sympathetically. “Technology’s great when it’s working,” _or when you remember to carry it with you,_ he added silently. 

Kim checked the clock. “Almost time to get started. Have fun!”

“Thanks,” Kurt said as he joined the three other student ambassadors and headed into the auditorium.

*****  
Santana was making her way to her last class of the day when her phone buzzed in her pocket. She didn’t recognize the number. “Hello? This is Santana.”

“Hey girl, it’s Ruby. I’m in your apartment. I keyed into both bedrooms, and checked the bathroom and closets. He’s not here.”

 _Closets?_ Santana didn’t want to know. She realized she’d been holding her breath, and let it out in a rush. “Thanks, but now he could be anywhere! And he’s not answering any messages!”

Ruby laughed. “Well, I think I may know why.”

“What?”

“There’s a cell phone plugged into a charger in the kitchen.”

“Oh, my god!” Santana exclaimed. “I can’t believe he would go out without his phone.”

“Maybe he just forgot? I’ll be writing up a report and leaving a copy with the Carlyle Court staff. If you don’t see or hear from him by later tonight, don’t hesitate to give us another call, okay?”

“Okay. But I hope I won’t have to do that. I’m sorry to have bothered you.”

“No bother at all. It’s part of our job.” 

*****  
Elliott hurried down the corridor in the direction of the Tisch faculty offices. He had taken Professor Leaderman’s acting workshop last semester, and knew that his office hours were always busy, with students usually lined up outside his door to see him. He sighed when he turned the corner, and saw five people waiting near his office door. _Shit, this could take a while._

“Hey, Elliott!” said one of the students as Elliott prepared to take a spot behind the last person in line.

“Hi, Jonah. What’s up?”

“Not much. Just waiting with everyone else to see the ‘Man.’ But what brings you here? You’re not taking anything with him this semester, are you? ”

Elliott moved closer and drew Jonah aside, away from the others. “I’m not here for me. I just need to ask him a quick question, whether someone was in his class this afternoon.”

Jonah chuckled. “That sounds vaguely stalkerish. Anyone I know?”

Elliott’s eyes grew wide. “Are you taking his afternoon acting workshop?”

Jonah nodded. “Yep. Just finished about an hour ago.”

“Was Kurt there?” 

Jonah stared at Elliott, a puzzled expression on his face. “Well yeah. Kurt was definitely there. We did one of the exercises together.”

“Did he seem okay?”

Jonah looked even more mystified than he had a moment ago. “Yeah, he was fine. What’s going on?”

Elliott’s face broke into a huge smile, and he grabbed Jonah’s arm and squeezed hard before letting go. “Thanks, man! He wasn’t answering texts and I got worried. It’s all good now. Catch you later!” Elliott headed back the way he came. As soon as he turned into the next corridor, he pulled out his phone and slumped down to the floor, leaning against the wall while he composed a text to Santana and Blaine.

**3:29 pm from Elliott: We have a sighting! Kurt was at his afternoon acting workshop class. Person who saw him said he seemed fine.**

Elliott pressed “send.” Just a couple of minutes later, his phone buzzed with an incoming text.

 **3:32 pm from Santana: Apartment checked. Kurt’s not there but I’m told his cell phone is, which explains a lot. Now that we know Kurt was in class, I plan to go all Lima Heights on his ass when I see him for putting us through this shit. Don’t try to stop me, Blaine.**

*****

Blaine let out an audible sigh of relief when he read Elliott and Santana’s texts. He didn’t plan to let Kurt off the hook for the worry he had caused, even if Kurt’s apology included make up sex. Lots of make up sex. He walked over to Angela to share the good news.

Angela smiled when she saw Blaine approaching. “Well, you seem happy. This is a much better look for you, by the way. So, Kurt’s okay?”

Blaine grinned. “Yep. And it turns out that his phone was back in his apartment, which explains why I never heard from him today, and couldn’t reach him.”

“That’s a relief. Would you like to do something other than stocking?”

Blaine thought for a moment. “Actually, if you don’t mind, I kind of have a nice rhythm going, and I could probably finish in about an hour.”

“Sure. Go for it.”

*****

Following the campus tour, Kurt returned to the Welcome Center to drop off his vest and name badge. He headed to the subway. As he hurried down the stairs to the uptown 8th Street station platform, he heard a train approaching. Luckily, he was able to board with seconds to spare. _This is great!”_ Kurt thought to himself. _Blaine’s not off work until 6:30 pm, so there’s time for me to stop in the market and pick up something very nice to make for dinner. That can be part of my apology. A nice meal, followed by make up sex. I just hope he reached out to Santana or Elliott today. They would have told him not to worry._

The train began to slow down, and Kurt looked up to see if they were approaching the station. But the train came to a complete stop in the tunnel. All the passengers looked up and around, trying to guess what was going on. A voice came over the speaker system.

“We’ve been told that the track ahead is blocked by a disabled train. We’re waiting to be re-routed to the local tracks. But there are other trains in front of us. We don’t know how long the delay will last, but we’ll keep you informed. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Murmurs filled the car, and some of the passengers shook their heads in a combination of anger and exasperation. Kurt put his face in his hands and moaned quietly. If he didn’t get back to the apartment ahead of Blaine, he wasn’t sure if food and sex would be enough to keep his boyfriend from killing him. 

After about fifteen minutes, the train started up again, and slowly entered the Union Square station on the local tracks. Kurt rushed out the door and headed for the street as fast as he could. He decided to stop at the apartment first, text Blaine, and then shop for dinner.

*****

Kurt opened the door of the apartment, eager to grab his cell phone out of the charger, only to be confronted by Santana, standing in front of him, her hands on her hips.

“Hey, Santana,” Kurt said cautiously.

“Don’t ‘Hey, Santana,’ me. My day was just fine until you put Preppy into a state of panic. I even had one of the RAs check the apartment, just to make sure your stupid ass wasn’t lying on the floor somewhere, or stuffed inside a closet.”

“You had the apartment checked?” Kurt asked faintly.

“I have no idea why I bothered. But next time you decide to go AWOL on your boy, try not to involve me and Elliott.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Kurt whined. “I overslept and I forgot my phone. I don't know his number by heart. Then the internet was out. Wait. How was Elliott a part of this?”

Santana’s hands stayed on her hips. “When you didn’t show up for your first class, and I couldn’t vouch for you since I didn’t sleep here last night, and you were ignoring Blaine’s texts, Elliott tracked down someone who had seen you in class this afternoon.”

“So I got all of you worried about me,” Kurt said regretfully. “I had hoped that wouldn’t happen.”

Santana turned her back on Kurt and snorted. “Then write down his damn number on a piece of paper, or don’t forget your phone.”

Kurt pulled his phone out of the charger and groaned as he swiped the screen. “Oh god. Look at these texts and missed calls! I’ll text Blaine right now. How do I make this up to you and Elliott?”

Santana pursed her lips together in thought. “For starters, you can feed us. Either here or take us out.”

Kurt sighed. “I was planning to cook an apology dinner for Blaine. But you’re right. I’ll do one for all three of you.”

“Five,” said Santana smugly. "I'm inviting Dani over, and I’m telling Elliott to bring Matt if he’s around. It’s payback time, Hummel.”

“Yeah, yeah. Okay.” Kurt quickly skimmed Blaine’s messages, biting his lip and shaking his head while he read them. This was going to require _a lot_ of food and sex. He just hoped that would be enough. 

**5:41 pm. Hi sweetie. I am so, so sorry. I forgot to charge my phone, overslept, and then left it in the apartment. Santana says I have to cook an apology meal for all of you, including Elliott, Dani and Matt, so I’m going to the market now to buy dinner. I’m lucky she hasn’t tried to maim me, but it’s probably because she wants me to cook for her. I’m also thinking make up sex after. But just with you. Lots and lots of it. Please forgive me. See you soon. Love you. XXXOOO <3 <3 <3 **

*****  
Blaine buried his face in Kurt’s neck the moment his boyfriend opened his arms and pulled him close. “Oh, thank god,” Blaine murmured. He didn’t care if anyone in the Carlyle Court lobby was watching, he just wanted to inhale Kurt.

Kurt squeezed Blaine even tighter. “Sweetie, I can’t imagine what today must have been like for you. Let’s get you signed in and upstairs so I can give you proper apology kisses.”

Once they entered the apartment, Blaine was greeted by Santana, Dani, Elliott and Matt. “Don’t let him off the hook, Blaine,” said Elliott with a big smile. “There should be consequences! And groveling!!”

Blaine grinned while Kurt hung up his coat and scarf in the closet. “Right now, I’m just happy to see him again, but I’ll think of something.”

“Make sure it includes sex,” said Santana. 

Kurt smirked. “Ignoring you. Since dinner’s in the oven, Blaine and I will be in my room for a few minutes while I apologize to him privately.”

“A shame we can’t watch,” said Elliott, as Kurt pulled Blaine into his bedroom.

“Pervert!” Kurt called out as he closed the door firmly behind him. He turned to look at Blaine, taking both of his hands in his. “Sweetheart, I am so sorry I forgot my phone, and then I made things much worse by not having your contact information written down. I could have called or texted you from a friend’s phone if I had your number. That’s not going to happen again.”

“I’m sorry, too for panicking and assuming the worst. I just didn’t know what else to do but reach out to Santana. When I found out you hadn’t gone to your first class, everything just unraveled. I was so scared that something bad had happened.”

Kurt nodded. “I completely understand. I would have been frantic, too. Let me hold you,” he said as he drew Blaine to him. “So, how can I fix this?” Kurt asked softly, punctuating each word with a kiss to his boyfriend’s lips, cheeks, neck, and jaw.

“You did mention make up sex,” said Blaine while stretching his neck in response to Kurt’s kisses, wanting more.

“I promise. As much as you want.”

“Elliott does have a point, you know. Groveling needs to be involved,” teased Blaine.

Kurt’s eyes darkened as he ran his hands down Blaine’s back and under the waistband of his slacks. His voice was low and throaty. “I’ll happily get down on my knees for you.”

Blaine cupped Kurt’s face and gazed into the blue-green eyes he loved so much. “Sounds awesome. But right now, I just want to kiss today away.”

**Author's Note:**

> Your comments are important to me. I would love to hear from you!
> 
> [ Library of Congress announcement cancelling the subject heading “illegal aliens.”](http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/illegal-aliens-decision.pdf)
> 
> [ IRS Publication 519: US Tax Guide for Aliens.](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf) Contains definitions, rules and information about individual income tax filing for non-US citizens. 
> 
> Kurt getting the news from Burt that his Aunt Peggy died, and the fallout that follows, takes place in the original [_Sweet DREAMers_](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3419171/chapters/7489244) Chapters 16-18.


End file.
